Across the Dimensions
by sketched-daydreams
Summary: A one-month 200 word challenge that delves into the characters of Arc V. Day #29: They are the children who grew up to be heroes. Crossposted from Tumblr.
1. Loss

**Title:** Loss  
 **Day #1:** In which it was Yuuya that is lost in the Synchro Dimension and Yuzu the one left behind.

* * *

It wasn't supposed to be this way; Yuzu feels her hands, cold as ice, clutched together to prevent from shaking.

They had no idea, no clue about what was going to happen. No idea about the war they were about to fight the moment they left the safety of the stadium. Now more than half of them were gone, disappeared, lost their lives in the confusion. The other half was gathered in Akaba Reiji's office and told that they were soldiers.

They are nothing more than _children_.

Yuzu can't find Yuuya and she refuses to believe that he is dead. No. She would have felt it, Yuzu had no doubt about it. She does not remember a life before Yuuya and she refuses to let that start now.

Because he remembers his smiling face with eyes that hid so much pain. Yuuya can't be dead, Yuzu stares levely at Akakba Reiji and dares him to tell her anything different.

Sakaki Yuuya is lost in the Synchro Dimension. Yuzu grasps desperately onto the words spoken by a man with a silver tongue that she can't quite believe.

There is no other choice. It is the only hope that she has left.


	2. Poverty

**Title:** Poverty

 **Day #2:** Yuugo dreams a life where Rin never has to wish for anything anymore.

* * *

Yuugo is not as oblivious as Rin thinks.

Yuugo knows that she thinks that he is just a child, but he understands. He sees the ragged dress that Rin wears day after day, counts the drops of rainwater dripping through their patched roof, and goes to bed with his stomach growling from a meager dinner.

Rin never complains because they got off lucky. Two orphans wouldn't make it far in this world, but together they have a chance.

But it's not _fair_ , Yuugo thinks, that Rin was the one who had to admire the pretty dresses of Top girls who have far too many, that they have to play with cards that were thrown away first, and that the night sky has not stars but the grand buildings of the Tops. Rin deserves more than that.

But Yuugo isn't so naïve as to believe that they might get out of this place. Commons will never get to the Top no matter how hard they struggle.

But when Jack Atlas wins the Friendship Cup, there is hope at long last. That night Yuugo dreams of the life of a winner, a life where Rin never has to wish for anything anymore.


	3. Memories

**Title:** Memories

 **Day #3:** Because deep in his mind, Yuuri remembers green eyes and the curve of a smile and then nothing at all.

* * *

Yuuri doesn't quite remember the days before he was a soldier on the frontlines of a war that he doesn't believe in. It is not that he is against the Professor's plans. No, far from it. It is just that chasing prey is far more interesting to him that some plan to fuse the dimensions. It was far more _fun_.

Yuuri does not question; he simply acts. But it is his quick-silver intelligence and lack of ambition that makes him the Professor's right hand man.

The Professor points and he attacks. Simplicity is what makes him so efficient.

And Yuuri revels in battle. Only the strong will survive. It is the law of nature and there is no reason weak Xyz _scum_ should live.

The world should be simple, black and white, and far to easy to conquer. Yet at night, Yuuri dreams.

He sees visions of a girl with green eyes and hair that is like the night sky, the darkest blue that's almost black. He sees the curve of her smile and hears the whisper of his name.

She would have been so very _disappointed_.

When he wakes up, Yuuri feels something he has never felt before.

 _Regret_.


	4. Soldier

**Title:** Soldier

 **Day #4:** Akaba Reiji is the leader of a war, but he can't help but feel the sting of guilt when he sends Reira to the battlefield.

* * *

Akaba Reiji is a boy, not yet a man, who looks at children and sees soldiers.

Emotions has no place in the war that he plans to lead. Regret will not bring back the lives of those he sacrifices, anger will execute the plans he has, and fear will not stop his father's soldiers from invading his world.

But he is only _human_. And Reiji closes his eyes when he knowingly sent the first Lancers out to slaughter, does nothing as he sees his comrades sent underground, and watches Yuuya scream in agony from the electric shocks.

Breathe _in_. Breathe _out_.

This is all just a part of his plan.

But the Lancers chose this, they chose to fight in this war. Reira didn't. Reira, who was barely eight years old, and who pulls on Reiji's shirt with wide eyes that has seen things he wished to forget.

Yuuya yells at him as Reiji stands, cold-faced, looking at his shaking little brother.

 _Why?_

How wrong is the world that a child has to be a _soldier?_

Reiji can't help but agree. Reira should not be here, but Reiji needs every weapon he can get.

Guilt has no place in war.


	5. Children

Title: Children

Day #5: Shun can't quite forgive Reiji for sending Reira to war.

* * *

Surprisingly it was Shun that managed to calm Reira down as the boy shook from his own memories. After all, _Shun_ was the only one who understood. Sweet words and encouragement wouldn't stop flashbacks of a time when death trailed behind your footsteps. All you could do, _can do_ is endure, move on, and keep on living.

Reira, who even flinched away from _Reiji_ , lets his head rest on Shun's shoulder as the older boy tell stories with the expertise of a practiced older brother. Shun's words are soft and gentle as he told tales about days that will be brighter, _happier_ than today. Yuuya, emotionally drained and tired, listens attentively before falling asleep next to Reira.

It was when Reira finally falls asleep soon after with Shun's coat draped over him and Yuuya that Shun finally addresses Reiji.

"Why are they fighting, Akaba?"

"They are my soldiers. They chose to fight in this war."

" _Chose_? Like I chose to fight when my home was burned to the ground?"

Shun lets out a humorless laugh, bitter and ice cold, "And you, manipulating children into fighting your battles?"

Shun's eyes bared into Reiji's own.

"You really are just like your father."

* * *

Can be read as a continuation of the previous chapter.


	6. Faces

**Title:** Faces

 **Day #6:** After a while, Yuuya begins to lose himself.

* * *

After a while, Yuuya begins to lose himself.

It all started with Yuuto who had eyes just like his, but far too wary. They barely had anytime together before the boy dies and everything went to hell.

The bursts of anger whenever anyone used fusion, the feeling of sadness whenever Kurosaki turns his head and _refuses_ to look Yuuya in the eyes, and those moments when he loses control. When all Yuuya could feel was pain, hatred, and the wish to burn the world to the ground.

Yuuya can't control his _mind_ anymore.

Then it was Yuugo and now there is a constant battle in his mind now. There are too many souls in his body. There are moments when he looks at Yuzu and thinks _Rin_ or closes his eyes and remembers untold wishes to the stars.

Yuuya doesn't know if his _thoughts_ are his own anymore.

And when Yuuya finally defeats Yuuri and then he is burning, burning up like he is engulfed in flames. Engulfed in bitterness, loneliness, and so much _regret_. Regret that he let the world made him who he is.

Four souls in one body, Yuuya doesn't know he _is_ anymore.

 _We are one._

* * *

 **Inspired by Episode 92 Preview**


	7. Window

**Title:** Window

 **Day #7:** The world was beautiful and Serena watches through a barred window.

* * *

There must be more to the world than _this_ , all cold gray stone and iron bars, and Serena wishes that she could see it. Can't the Professor see that she wants more than to be stuck here all the time? That there are dimensions and worlds that are just begging to be explored?

Serena does not know what war is. All she knows is the cold isolation of her room and what knowledge the Professor deems necessary. War is only a fantasy she creates in her mind. War was Academia educating those who stupidly cling onto unneeded summoning methods.

Academia is always right and Serena wants to fight. Be the one who was in _charge_ instead of being _reprimanded_.

But when she screams about her wish to be on the battlefield, Serena feels guilt. Because she didn't care about the war as much as being free. Of being able to see something other than the blue-gray water and jagged rocks.

That was ridiculous of course. How could she feel more free at a strange dimension than her own home?

Serena watches the world from being a barred window and tries to convince herself that her room is not a _prison_.


	8. Parent

**Title:** Parent

 **Day #8:** Kurosaki Shun is eight years old when he becomes the father of two.

* * *

Kurosaki Shun is eight years old when he becomes the father of two.

Strangely, caring for others comes naturally to him.

Even as a child, he was far more the parent than those two people who are never home, the ones who never cared for him and never cared for _Ruri_.

Shun knows that Ruri is a handful, too observant and emphatic, not enough caution. She brings home stray animals constantly, constructs a popsicle stick birdhouse filled with seeds, and comes home missing possessions that were given away without a second thought.

But this was _ridiculous_ , Shun thinks, when Ruri comes home holding the hand of a boy with wary, gray eyes.

The boy, Yuuto, stays for dinner and eats with the fevor of a starving man. It was when Yuuto finally leaves, with the barest hint of a smile on his face, that Shun understands. Ruri didn't need to explain.

Ruri wouldn't have had a childhood if Shun wasn't here, he was her shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold. And Yuuto had reminded her of herself, cold and alone, but without anyone to rely on.

"Invite him again tomorrow."

Ruri's smile could've lit up the night.


	9. War

**Title:** War

 **Day #9:** Yuuto refuses to let war change him, but it might be too late to save Shun.

* * *

When the building were exploding and his comrades dropping at every turn, all Yuuto knew was Shun's back to his as they dueled. Heartland is a distant past. War was at this very moment.

And Yuuto refuses to let war change him, twist him into something he is not. Then he would be no better than the Academia soldiers who laughs as they take lives. But Yuuto still has his _humanity_.

Shun had it worst. He was older, constantly placed on the frontlines where the world crashes down upon him as he struggles to stand up. Yuuto sees darkness in his eyes when he came back to their tent where it only disappears when Ruri laughs.

Yuuto remembers days when the world was shining with possibilities, when Shun's smiles were not the corrupted versions they are now. The one that only appears when he kills with a flick of his fingers.

Yuuto wonders if it's too _late_.

 **-0-**

"Make them smile."

Yuuto doesn't want to _die_ , but if he is he wants Yuuya to save them. Save _Shun_.

Yuuto looks at Yuuya, but all he can see is Shun's face lighting up with the ghost of a long forgotten smile.


	10. Acceptance

**Title:** Acceptance

 **Day #10:** Ruri does not flinch anymore at the sight of death.

* * *

Ruri doesn't even flinch anymore when her she smells the rotting flesh those who were lost before they were turned into cards.

It was the more dignified end, to die at your homeland than die for Academia's amusement. But, Ruri thinks bitterly, both are means to the same end.

 _Death._

And Ruri prays that Shun and Yuuto to never suffer the same fate.

But she sees it in their _eyes_ , as if death had wormed into their hearts already. Yuuto's eyes are alert and his smiles are like tricks in the light. Shun's are cold and angry and Ruri barely recognizes him anymore. Not the boy who impatiently teaches her to duel or does her hair on the first day of school.

So Ruri continues to smile, like the days before the world went to _hell_. She sees Yuuto's shoulders lose their tension and the light return to Shun's eyes.

She smiles as she feels herself break apart.

* * *

"Will you leave Heartland alone?"

The boy, who looks so much like _Yuuto_ , answered with an amused grin. "There is nothing left of worth here with you gone."

When Ruri loses, she does not _flinch_.

At least Shun and Yuuto will be safe.


	11. Tears

**Title:** Tears

 **Day #11:** "Where's Yuuto?" Shun does not know how to answer Ruri's question

* * *

When Shun sees Ruri again, it is like the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders. Ruri looked tired and weary, but she was _safe_.

Ruri looks around with tearful eyes.

"Where's Yuuto?"

This was the moment. The moment that has been haunting Shun's dreams. _Two words._ Two words that he can never run away from.

-o-

Kurosaki Shun does not cry. Tears do not revive the dead nor comfort the living. Yet when the light cleared and only the boy with Yuuto's face was left and his best friend no where to be seen, Shun leaves. He walks back to his room and cries.

Shun knew what it means when you lose. He curses. At the boy who didn't move quickly enough. At the world that sent Academia chasing them. At Yuuto who was too _emotional_. Too _human_ to let an innocent boy die.

When that boy, Yuuya, summons _Dark Rebellion_ Shun knows its over. You live and die by your cards and Yuuto's favorite card was no longer his.

-o-

Shun looks at Ruri who stares at him pleadingly waiting for any answer.

" … Shun?"

Shun lets weakness show through for the first time.

"… _He's_ _gone_."


	12. Eyes

**Title:** Eyes

 **Day #12:** In her eyes, he sees the beginning and the end.

* * *

He has long since memorized the colors of her eyes.

He sees it in his mind's eye: gold like the first rays of the sun, pink as the flares that liven up the sky during dawn, green that shimmers like the color of the forest and ocean at once, and of course blue.

Blue like the sky itself was in her eyes.

His eyes pale in comparison. Blue as the depths of the ocean, pink like the colors that streak through the sky at dusk, gray like ash and melted snow, and red.

Red like blood and fire that burns and steals the life from the eyes of the once living.

He is the destruction to her creation, forever in fate intertwined. She's the color of dawn and brilliant life. He is the the color of dusk wrapped in a cloak of shadows.

The deities of creation and destruction. Together since the beginning of time and here for the end. Together in life and death.

There is a terrible irony that it was those beautiful eyes that are the last thing he sees before her arrow pierces his heart and the light fade from his eyes.

 _This is the end._


	13. Entertainer

**Title:** Entertainer

 **Day #13:** Dennis Macfield sees Sakaki Yuuya perform and wonders of what he could've been.

* * *

Dennis Macfield is an _entertainer_.

Scraping by on his own is made much easier with a little charm and some card tricks. He performs at the streets, pulls a card out of thin air with a beatific smile, makes a coin disappear along with a man's wallet, and goes home with a full stomach that night.

Attention will always be what Dennis _craves_ , but it is never just that. Dennis cannot care for people's smiles if he leaves without any coins in his hat.

Dennis is used to people seeing only the mask that he portrays. The Proffesor was different. He looks at Dennis, sees past the entertainer, and sees a boy desperate to belong.

So he gives Dennis a home. Dennis is the Professor's spy. He is a natural born entertainer with a pretty face and guileless smile.

Dennis Macfield is an _actor_.

Dennis's first job is to find a girl in the XYZ dimension and he plays at being an entertainer. But when he finds her the fun is over.

Dennis wonders why people always forget the difference between an _entertainer_ and an _actor_.

But when Dennis sees Sakaki Yuuya perform, he wonders of what he could've been.


	14. Name

**Title:** Name

 **Day #14:** Sawatari Shingo finally understands what his name means when he hears the roar of the crowd.

* * *

Sawatari Shingo has always had his name. The name of his father who inspires much respect. When people hear it they look at him in a new light and Shingo chooses to ignore the fakeness of it all.

If Shingo's name inspires cowering looks and respect than Sakaki Yuuya's name brings nothing but jeers and hushed whispers. It is the name of the man who ran _away_ , who abandoned his duel and his family to disappear.

Shingo doesn't understand why Yuuya always wants his name in the spotlight. It's the name of a coward, a destiny that he can't escape. _Sakaki Yuuya_ , the son of the man who never defended his title.

 _Sawatari_. It is the name that decorates the gold plaque at town hall. It is the name written on college diploma hung up at his father's office. It's what makes Shingo who he _is_.

But Shingo finally understands when he stands on the Action Field with the crowd chanting his name.

 _Sawatari! Sawatari!_

Sawatari is not the name of a politician, a mayor of a town. It is the name of the boy who duels to hear the audience's cheers.

It is him that gives his name it's meaning.


	15. Hero

**Title:** Hero

 **Day #15:** Gongenzaka Noboru will be the hero that no one wants.

* * *

Gongenzaka Noboru knows too well about the deception of first glances.

He sees it in the eyes of the people he duels. They look at him and see a boy too tall and too big for his age, with a large nose, and a ridiculous haircut.

That wasn't all technically wrong of course, but they always underestimate him. Think that his appearance makes him who he is. There was a reason that Gongenzaka hates playing the villain. He refuses to fall into old prejudices, that appearance means heart.

The hero doesn't need to be _pretty_ to be _strong_.

But the crowd wants to cheer for someone greater than life, beautiful and heroic, standing up against the odds. Someone like Yuuya or Yuzu, who smiles prettily as the audience goes wild.

But Gongenzaka has a brain behind all that muscle, he is not petty enough to fault his friends for what he cannot have. And Gongenzaka will never lose to the jealousy that changes people into villains.

So he continues to duel his _way_. The way of his _dojo_ , the way of his _heart_.

And if no one wants him than Gongenzaka Noboru will be the hero that no one wants.


	16. Hope

**Title:** Hope

 **Day #16:** Ayu hopes for a day where there will be a reason to smile again.

* * *

Ayu has always had a bright life, a bright future. She had loving parents, good friends, and could always find something to smile at.

There were heroes and villains, but all could be solved with a little cheer and an explosion of colorful sparks. The world was beautiful like it blossomed from the pages of her storybooks.

At least that was what she thought the world was.

Because when she duels Akaba Reira, Ayu shivers. The boy wasn't scary or intimidating like a opponent should be. Not with eyes that reminds Ayu of pet fish that her parents flushes down the toilet. Souless and empty.

And when Yuuya leaves, Ayu's world breaks into pieces. All the sudden, dueling wasn't just for _fun_ anymore. Duelists, young or old, are recruited into LDS's army.

Ayu's parents take away her duel disk and she is not allowed outside anymore. Tatsuya is already gone, the semi-finalist of the Junior competition, is valuable indeed. And she loses contact with Futoshi.

Ayu looks outside the window and _hopes_. That the people she love will not have eyes like Akaba Reira, dead on the inside. And that one day there will be a reason to smile again.


	17. Coward

**Title:** Coward

 **Day #17:** Dennis Macfield knows that when Sora come to the Synchro Dimension that he is not on the Professor's orders.

* * *

Dennis Macfield knows that when Sora come to the Synchro Dimension that he is not on the Professor's orders.

Dennis knows too well what the Professor does to people he fail him. Sora would not have a third chance.

Academia's spies have been taught to be fanatically loyal, _live_ for Academia and _die_ for Academia. Their job is to smile and lie, worm their way through the system and tear it up from the inside. Dennis knows what it means to defy the Professor.

But when Dennis looks into Sora's eyes he sees no fear. There's desperation, yes, the idea of a predator becoming prey, but no fear. No fear of the Professor's wrath if he was caught. Just the worry that he can't save those he considered his friends.

Eyes that want to _save_ and not _destroy_.

Dennis remembers when he was like that. When he sat next to a girl with long violet hair long ago and she told him about her dreams. He had thought that it was possible then. To run away and never look back.

When his duel disk activates and Dennis is teleported back to Academia, he understands.

He will always be a _coward._


	18. Revenge

**Title:** Revenge

 **Day #18:** Akaba Himika sees her sons and thinks of nothing but vengeance

* * *

Akaba Himika remembers when she was a _queen_.

She remembers whispered promises of a world that would have been _theirs_ as she stood next to Reo with little Reiji and her arms and smiled for the camera.

There is nothing now. All images of Akaba Reo wiped from their home. His name is only spoken in hushed tones by a boy that says it with hatred in his eyes.

Himika is not weak. She does not hold onto things lost to the past. Himika has a heart of a _revolutionary_ and brains of a _general_. There's a reason she had been Akaba Leo's wife after all.

Reiji grows up cold and alone, and Himika pushes him on. He is her weapon, her spear, polished by experience and sharpened with apathetic cruelty.

Himika will not lose this war.

When Reira stares at her scared eyes, there is nothing left in her heart. It has been frozen from too many tears, too many nights up fearing for the world, and too many curses at the man who never looked back.

Reira is the _sword_ that will break down Reo's beloved Academia and Reiji will be the _spear_ she thrusts into Reo's heart.


	19. Love

**Title:** Love

 **Day #19:** Yoko sees Yusho in Yuuya and she doesn't know what to think.

* * *

When people asked Yoko about how she met Sakaki Yusho, she smiles with a finger over her lips. It is a moment that she'd rather to keep to herself.

That they saved each other when neither thought it was needed.

Yoko and Yusho took each other's hands and found a home. He sees through her heavy makeup and combat boots and finds her bravery and gentle kindness. And Yoko looks at Yusho's smile and sees hidden darkness, a story written out in the crinkles of his eyes.

She doesn't ask. Everyone has their secrets, Yoko thinks, and that she would love him no matter what.

Not until the day Yusho left that Yoko rips through albums and albums of pictures. Yuuya had cried himself to sleep that night as she looks and _looks_ for a _reason_. A reason why he left.

She doesn't have any pictures of him before they met and Yoko wonders if she ever really knew the man she married at all.

Yuuya grows up with a smile on his face, but Yoko sees through his mask. There is darkness locked in his eyes, just like Yusho's, and Yoko does not know whether to smile or cry.


	20. Fairytale

**Title:** Fairytale

 **Day #20:** Serena is her own knight in shining armor.

* * *

When Serena looks at Yuuya who has that desperate look in his eyes when speaks of Yuzu or that strange Yuugo boy who looked like the sun had finally risen when he mistakes her for "Rin", she feels bitterness welling up in her heart.

And Serena wonders, if anyone was out there looking for her like _they_ were.

Serena thinks of fairytale princes and damsels in distress with a disgusted smile. There had been no princes to save her from her stone tower. So she had to take up the sword and save herself.

But sometimes Serena remembers devious grins and whispered promises, and in the next second it was already gone.

So Serena learned to trust nothing but her own two legs. They, not dashing princes or shining knights, are what saves her. They are what allows her to run away, feel the freedom in her hair, and lets her dance around her room as she concocts a plan to escape.

She has no one but _herself_.

And as Serena runs into the dungeons of Academia, she finds two girls with her eyes and her smile.

So Serena holds out her hand, she is the knight in this fairytale.


	21. Red

**Title:** Red

 **Day #21:** Akaba Reira sees red and finally sees love instead of death.

* * *

Akaba Reira grew up to the sounds of gunshots like they were bird song, sees blood seep through the cracks of his house like puddles of rainwater, and holds onto his teddy bear not from fear of the monsters under his bed but the soldiers outside his window.

So Reira hides his behind his hood, if only so he couldn't see that shocking shade of crimson red, and refuses to cry. Tears would serve nothing but alert the men to his presence.

When Reira is found by Reiji and Himika Akaba, Reira couldn't quite tell if they were _demons_ or _angels_.

Reira is taken away and is taught to be a soldier, the very thing he hates. But there was no need to think, just follow his " _mother's_ " orders despite the tremors in his body.

Reiji, his big brother, holds onto him when the shaking gets too bad and puts a calming hand on Reira's head.

And then there was Yuuya who could've just abandoned him easily, but instead holds onto him and smiles cheerfully with bright, red eyes.

When Reira sees the crimson red of his big brother's scarf and Yuuya's eyes, he finally sees love instead of death.


	22. Together

Title: Together

Day #22: They have each other and Rin thinks that is enough.

* * *

Rin remembers when she meets Yuugo. It was by a dump area where cards are thrown away and scavenged by Common children.

There was a boy there with yellow bangs and messy blue hair being pulled up by the collar of his shirt by three older, bigger boys. He was clutching a card to his chest, refusing to let it go.

 _Idiot_ , was her first thought.

 _I need to save him_ , was her next.

At first the boys laughed, so Rin pulls out her deck and challenges them to a duel and beats them down one by one. Rin doesn't have the best cards, but she has a clever mind and wit far beyond any of them.

Her first question to the boy she saved, Yuugo, was, " _Why are you such an idiot_?"

But they stuck together until Yuugo was a constant in Rin's life. They had loud arguments on silly things and bickered over cards, but Rin smiled more than she had ever had before.

They don't have parents, a warm bed to sleep in at night, or enough food for two growing children. But they have their _dreams_ and they have _each other_ and Rin thinks that's enough.


	23. Repentance

**Title:** Repentance

 **Day #23:** Sora does not say sorry. All they can do is move on.

* * *

Sora wonders how many people he has killed.

The memories are passive and even now Sora can't feel guilt when he thinks of the dead.

But he does when he sees the living. That ninja he carded, Hikage, his name had been. In that moment it had meant nothing, but now Sora knows what he has caused.

All the _tears_ cried for a boy lost to the light of his duel disk.

But if Tsukikage is determined to forgive than Kurosaki Shun will never move on. Kurosaki who glares at him with those eyes, piercing and damning.

Where is _Ruri_? He seems to ask.

Where is _Yuuto_?

How _dare_ you take so many innocent lives and _believe_ you deserve forgiveness.

Sora knows how slippery words are. He could manipulate them so well that you can't tell truth from lie.

But he duels in covers Kurosaki's back despite his mind telling him to let the Xyz scum die. And he throws himself in front of a blast to protect his friends because actions _cannot_ be taken back. Not in the way words can.

Sora does not say sorry. It is a useless, _worthless_ word.

All they can do is move on.


	24. Apart

**Title:** Apart

 **Day #24:** In her mind, Yuzu wonders, but in her heart she knows. They will find each other again.

* * *

Looking at Yuugo has become a painful process and Yuzu knows that it isn't his fault. Yuugo is cheerful and enthusiastic and she is grateful to him.

But she _can't_ hide her pain when she open her eyes to see Yuugo's blue ones instead of red.

Yuzu has seen a picture frame at Yuugo's house, it's the only thing that isn't covered by dust, of a girl with gold eyes and realizes that Yuugo must feel the same.

It's gnawing at them both, to look at each other and constantly be reminded of what they cannot have.

Yuzu remembers when she had been _innocent_.

When the worst thing that could happen was You Show Duel School going bankrupt and finding Yuuya meant looking through the playground for a boy hiding his tears.

What must have been only a few days felt like an _eternity_.

Yuzu wonders if they are destined to never be together. She is not stupid. She knows that they are at the center of whatever the hell is going on and the universe seemed to fight to keep them apart.

In her mind, Yuzu _wonders_ , but in her heart she _knows_.

They will find each other again.


	25. Universe

**Title:** Universe

 **Day #25:** Yuuya thinks he remembers a life when the fate of the universe wasn't in the palm of his hand.

* * *

Yuuya remembers innocence, when the world was the background to unfolding dreams and not a battlefield. Before it felt like the universe was swinging him by the rope around his throat and wondering how long before he _suffocates_.

Now when Yuuya duels, it is a game to survive. It's not something that makes people smile, that _inspires_ , that creates. It is a tool of war, to protect his friends and fight for the right to keep breathing.

Yuuya closes his eyes and wonders if he is a god, a monster, or just a simple _pawn_ in all this madness.

Smiling has long since become a distant memory and Yuuya wonders if this was what Yuuto became, constantly alert and vengeful with eyes hidden beneath the shadows collected from the lives taken by his dancing fingers.

Yuuya goes to sleep every night with his thoughts whispering into his ears to _kill_ , to _destroy_ , to remake this _worthless_ world. He wakes up and looks in the mirror to sees a malevolent god _,_ a destructive monster, and a boy with _war_ in his eyes.

Yuuya thinks he remembers a life when the fate of the universe wasn't in the palm of his hand.


	26. Redemption

**Title:** Redemption

 **Day #26:** Sora sees Academia being rebuilt and he knows that they won't go down the same path again.

* * *

Sora knows what it means to have a second chance, to prove yourself again.  
So when the war ends and life resumes, Sora doesn't let Academia stay as a pile of ruins.

Instead he stands by the ruins of his home and slowly, _stone_ by _stone_ , Academia sprouts anew. And Sora does not let it fall prey to the sins of the original. There is _color_ , there is _life_. There is not hatred etched onto the stones, but acceptance.

What was his greatest regret, became his greatest pride.

When Sora sees new students flood through the halls of Academia with innocent eyes, wearing colored jackets that do not represent their ranks in an army, and with duel disks that can't take lives there is hope in his heart.

It is slow and gradual but life goes on.

And every year Sora tells the story of what Academia had been, he refuses to hide the truth behind honeyed words, and tells them of the darkness within the walls. Of war and death and how dueling lost its meaning to destruction.

And every year Headmaster Sora Shiunin makes sure that the future will be _brighter_ with each student that enters Academia's walls.


	27. Stories

**Title:** Stories

 **Day #27:** Kurosaki Shun tells stories of a boy who never became a hero.

* * *

There is a statue of Shun up on the square of the rebuilt Heartland city. It is grandiose and pretentious in a way that makes Shun uncomfortable.

Shun rarely leaves his house nowadays.

Ruri visits often but she always left. Sora comes for tea in silence and Reiji sends emails that Shun never reads. Sometimes Yuuya stays over before setting off again and Shun had never been one to ask questions.

Shun is _not_ a hero, he is a survivor.

Shun is not honorable, he falls prey to temptation. He seeked vegeance and was not a good enough person to forgive.

Sometimes children stay over for war tales, wide-eyed and looking for grand fairytales of heroism and valor. Of his stories fighting Academia alone.

But instead Shun tells them of Yuuto, who was eleven when war come knocking on their door. He tells of the boy who won't let him stay broken, of a friend that never lost himself to war. He tells them about a life that ended too soon and of words he never got to say.

Shun will _never_ be a hero, but Yuuto was.

He does not want them to make the same mistakes he did.


	28. Smile

**Title:** Smile

 **Day #28:** After the war, Yuuya travels the dimensions and learns to smile again

* * *

After the war, Yuuya leaves Standard. He leaves with only the clothes on his back and a bag of treasured memories.

His deck is wrapped up carefully and tucked away in the deepest corner his bag. He does not need them now.

Yuuya walks away and looks towards the future.

Yuuya sees darkness, seeping through broken cracks and into the minds of people. But there's light in a kind act and the laughter of children. _This_ is the world he saved.

Yuuya still sees his friends. Drops by Yuzu's home for a punch in the gut and quiet walks, sleeps over at Shun's whenever he goes to the Xyz Dimension, and gives lectures at Sora's rebuilt Academia.

Yuuya has not touched his cards in years.

But slowly, he heals. When he gives street performances in the square of Heartland City, teaches a child how to duel with a patient voice, and sees his friends move on, Yuuya's face begins to curve into that familiar expression that he used to wear so carelessly.

Yuuya knows there is darkness inside of him, bubbling beneath the surface, but with each sound of laughter that reaches his ears Yuuya learns how to smile again.


	29. Legend

**Title:** Legend

 **Day #29:** They are the children who grew up to be heroes.

* * *

This is _not_ a story of a single boy facing the world but of lives interconnected, no matter how loosely, to create a legend.

This is a tale about a boy the hides his tears behind smiles, of a headstrong girl who chases after fleeting freedom, of a leader who manipulates lives like pawns, of a boy who lost himself to vengeance, a spy who turned traitor, a little boy who refuses to hide from his monsters, and so many more.

War changes people, it strips away petty ideals and pretty words into naked reality and sharp daggers aimed at your throat. It burns down the world, takes lives, and causes children to grow up far too soon.

But little by little the future grows bright again.

There is light in the new students at Sora's Academia who learns respect and passion that won't burn down the world, of children sat at Shun's doorstep and listens to stories of heroes, and the kids who laugh at Yuuya's performances and realize that laughter is truly the best medicine.

This is a story of children who saved the world and save themselves. Who grew up to be _heroes_.

It's time to duel.

 **Fin.**


End file.
